Vallejoan's love for her city shines through in images

When Landileigh Nelson picked up her camera, she had no idea what pictures she would make.To her surprise, Nelson, 51, found herself writing a love letter of photographs to Vallejo.“I realize now that I love my city, and I love my neighborhood, and I'm enjoying life here,” Nelson said.Nelson is the 50-year-old participant of the Times-Herald Generation Snaps project. She turned 51 in the middle of the assignment, and most of her pictures were taken while her right wrist was still in a cast from carpal tunnel syndrome surgery.Her initial vision for the project was to document the fall season in Vallejo.“We have changing of leaves, and a lot of people don't see that and say, ‘Oh, you've got to go to Vermont or North Carolina.' No, it's right here in my little hometown,” Nelson said, looking at photograph of Tennessee Street ablaze with red and gold leaves.Nelson, who lived in Napa for 20 years and has lived in Vallejo for the last five or so, has a home in one of the hillier parts of Vallejo, giving her — and her camera — impressive views of much of Mt. Tamalpais and the waterways of the Bay Area.“I just wish people saw those views of Vallejo that I see,” Nelson said.Nelson had been a photographer in her younger days, but the pressure of jobs and children forced her to leave the hobby by the wayside. But because of the Generation Snaps project, she now plans to return to her love of photography.“This project got really expensive for me — or actually, really expensive for my husband — and he ended up asking me what I wanted for my birthday,” Nelson said, laughing about her new digital camera system and digital photography software.Nelson's husband of 25 years also showed up in her photographs, including several she took at Bodega Bay. In those images, her husband stands at the edge of the beach, enveloped in fog and bundled up against the chill.“We hadn't been to the ocean for almost 20 years. We hadn't gone over. It's just one of those things — too much to do, too much work. We're starting to take it easy,” Nelson said.The two are planning a months-long RV trip across much of the country as a way to enjoy their retirement.Nelson said she enjoyed the Generation Snaps project and was glad she still had a keen eye for photography.“I probably could have filled up three cameras in nothing flat. I thought I was limited until I saw these pictures, and I actually think I did pretty good,” Nelson said.Contact Lanz Christian Bañes at (707) 553-6833 or lbanes@timesheraldonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @LanzCBanes.